Appeal to Keep Evolution’s Accuser Anonymous Denied

The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected an appeal request submitted by Calcagni & Kanefsky, the law firm representing the unidentified Evolution accuser, to keep them anonymous.

Supreme Court Denied Client Anonymity Appeal

Evolution is currently involved in a year-long lawsuit arising from allegations that the major gaming company employed misleading tactics, among other concerns. Calcagni & Kanefsky (CK) is the company representing the anonymous accuser, and it has previously appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court to keep said accuser’s identity anonymous. 

However, this request was denied with a court order on April 11. This means that CK must provide “full and complete” responses to Evolution’s five pending interrogatories. One of these is the identity of CK’s anonymous client and the entity that retained the said client.

While Evolution will have to be told the names of the accuser(s), this does not mean the company would disclose them to the public. If the names aren’t disclosed in court filings or through a public statement, they may only come to light in an amended complaint or during the trial, both of which could take months.

Alternatively, if CK opts to settle, the names might remain permanently concealed. Previously, there has been conflicting information regarding the true identity of the accuser who commissioned the report.

The Case Has Been Ongoing for Years

The whole case started with the release of a report in 2021 by a mystery accuser. Said report claimed that Evolution operated in various restricted markets. This has led to a $10 billion drop in the live casino giant’s market value. Since then, Evolution has repeatedly rejected the allegations, describing them as “inaccurate, false, defamatory, and methodologically flawed.”

Following a defamation lawsuit filed against CK in New Jersey Superior Court in 2021, a complex legal battle over discovery unfolded. An Appellate Court ultimately ruled that revealing the identities of the report’s authors and the entity that commissioned it would depend on the report’s “veracity.” After years of legal battles, the court ultimately ruled that the report lacked credibility and ordered the authors to be identified.

It remains unclear whether CK has complied with the request, though it seems to have nearly exhausted its legal avenues to avoid the discovery demand. If CK has indeed submitted the outstanding interrogatories, then Evolution may now hold the key to one of the most intriguing mysteries in the U.S. online gambling industry.